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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023135">Kids to You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentaink/pseuds/pentaink'>pentaink</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Character, Asexuality, Childhood Trauma, Eating Disorders, Internalized Homophobia, Neurological Disorders, Seizures</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 06:33:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,821</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26023135</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/pentaink/pseuds/pentaink</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A modern AU retelling of Avatar: The Last Airbender, starting at the beginning of book three.<br/>The dark waves crash over ragged rocks as an electrocuted nomad, a singed healer, a yearning warrior, a blind boxer, and an anxious prince await a day of ultimate power and ultimate tragedy: Sozin's Comet. </p><p>Rated teen and up for swearing and adult themes such as implied sex, drugs, and abuse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Aang/Katara (Avatar), Sokka &amp; Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Awakening Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Aang’s eyes blinked open to a room basked in warm, flickering light. The smell of salt water stung his nose as he brought up a hand to his eye, trying to rub out the lingering fatigue. He had that strange feeling of almost-near numbness, where he couldn’t close his hand entirely, and when he lazily dropped it back to his side, he felt something soft. Was there a blanket, or some sort of hat he had fallen asleep with? Raising a hand again to feel his head, he found about half an inch of hair, growing evenly all over his head. He raised both hands, marvelling at the sensation of not being able to touch his scalp… Then, everything went black.</p>
<p>“Aang! Aang?” That sweet voice. A few soft, yet determined footsteps. His eyes were pulled open to see her face in full, yet blurry, view. “You’re awake.”</p>
<p>“Hey, Katara,” he croaked, his voice muddled with disuse.</p>
<p>She gave him a smile, running her hand over his head and looking into his eyes for a silent moment. Then, she turned her head to the side. “Sokka,” she said, “I think it happened again.”</p>
<p>More footsteps, solid yet quick, rounded a corner to Aang’s right. There he was, the meat and sarcasm guy. “Aang!” Sokka shouldered Katara out of the way, coming into view over Aang’s face. “You’re holding up pretty well, I gotta say.”</p>
<p>“How long was I out?” Aang asked. Yeah. That’s a cool thing to say. Cool guys say that.</p>
<p>“About two weeks,” Katara answered. “You’ve got hair!”</p>
<p>“I’ve got hair!” Aang smiled, albeit weakly. He tried to sit up on his elbows, but fell back. Katara rushed to help set up pillows so he could sit up. He looked at the room. There was the fireplace, the main source of light in the room. On a wall to his left hung a large poster-- with the Fire Nation emblem. Aang’s eyes widened.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, that whole thing.” Sokka gestured to the poster. He explained how he had met with his father and the men of the tribe, took over a Fire Nation ship, and disguised themselves as soldiers. “And the best part?” Sokka grinned excitedly. “The whole world thinks you’re dead.”</p>
<p>Aang shot forward before Katara could stop him, hands on his shins. “What?”</p>
<p>Sokka nodded excitedly, obviously about to go into a spiel about strategy or something similar when Aang stopped him. “No. No, oh no. Shit.” Katara, one hand on each side of his back, eased him back onto the pillows. Aang held his head in his hands, running his hands over his hair, over and over again. “Sorry,” he turned to Katara. </p>
<p>She pulled him in, an understanding frown on her face. He put his hands back into his lap, pinching the covers and feeling the silky fabric. Sokka had sat at the end of the bed. He looked like he was talking, but Aang couldn’t hear anything. Spots started at the edge of his vision as he rubbed the fabric, over and over… </p>
<p>“You okay?” Katara was the only one in the room now, sitting by the bed with one hand on his knee. He released the fabric from his fingers, where he could feel it was much thinner than the rest of the blanket.</p>
<p>“Did I pass out?”</p>
<p>Katara looked down. “I’ve been reading about the aftereffects of electrocution and it looks like you may be experiencing recurring seizures. It’s due to the abnormal electrical activity in your nerves. They should go away with time, but for right now, we just need to keep an eye out for them and time them.” She held up a phone, unfamiliar to Aang’s eyes. A burner. “That last one was just over a minute.”</p>
<p>Aang nodded. He felt helpless. His friends had hijacked a boat, found their parents, come up with a plan to invade the Fire Nation and he had been here, in bed, passed out for two weeks. He couldn’t do anything. Katara sat down on the side of the bed, rubbing a thumb over his cheek and letting her hand rest on his shoulder. Aang savored the moment, staring at the scars dappling Katara’s hands. The burns… He raised his slow hands, cupping her palm and looking up at her sky-blue eyes. “I’m going to do it. You won’t be disappointed.”</p>
<p>“Oh, Aang.” Katara held his shaking hands. “I was never disappointed in you.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Awakening Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The great palace doors closed with a creak and a boom. Zuko let out his breath. He looked up at the intricately carved arches supporting the ceilings, depictions of ancestors long passed and mostly forgotten. Was that how he was going to be? Nothing more than a pretty picture on a tapestry, a stick figure killing the Avatar. He was back home.</p><p>Zuko felt his boots click against the black marble floors of the palace, across the empty, vast hallways and out the side door. He couldn’t use the front door, there would be reporters and news crews just waiting for a glimpse of his scarred face. He raised a hand to the scar… It would be four years next month. What a coincidence that his birthday fell on the day of Black Sun.</p><p>He had heard about the invasion plans from Azula, who had casually mentioned them with a flip of her wrist. “The Earth King told us. How silly he was to trust three girls he had never even met before! I couldn’t dream of it.” Zuko had just been sitting on the couch listening to music. </p><p>Zuko slipped into a side corridor, past a kitchen, a few bathrooms, and out through a gilded door into the garden. A nice breath of fresh air greeted him as he strolled through the statues and fountains, staying on the marble path. He stopped at the pond, where a familiar dark silhouette sat, staring into the water. </p><p>She had glossy black hair, tied up in a perfect bun on the top of her head. She was wearing a black dress, with a bomber jacket tight around her shoulders. She sat like a gray cloud, almost menacing, watching cooly over the pond. She clicked her long nails rhythmically against the armrest of the bench.</p><p>“Azula.” Zuko walked up to the bench and sat down next to his sister. As soon as he did, she stood up. </p><p>“How’d the chat with Dad go?” Azula never turned his way, clasping her hands behind her back. Zuko swore he could see his reflection in those acrylics.</p><p>Zuko stared at his own hands, fussing around with the dirt underneath.</p><p>“Not one to talk today? Maybe Mai has gotten to you… You seem to be spending an awful lot of time together lately.” He could tell she was smiling.</p><p>“It’s nothing.” Zuko forced himself to unclench his jaw and put his shoulders back. </p><p>Azula turned to study his face, sitting back down on the bench and taking his chin between her thumb and pointer finger. “No new burns. I’m assuming the talk went well.” </p><p>“I don’t understand,” Zuko pushed her hand away, “I didn’t capture the Avatar. Wasn’t that the whole point of my journey?” </p><p>“The Avatar’s dead,” Azula replied.</p><p>Zuko was back in the catacombs. The light of green crystals lit up the water tribe girl in the dark, a gentle glow just enough to let Zuko’s eyes adjust. The light glinted off the flask of spirit water… </p><p>“The Avatar’s dead,” he repeated. He could hear the clack of Azula’s heels as she stepped back down the marble path and into the palace. </p><p>~</p><p>CRASH. Another rock smashed into the side of the enemy ship. Aang was watching from the staircase that led belowdecks as Toph hurled rock after rock, barraging the Fire Nation ship. Katara brought her hands above her head, creating a surge of water that enveloped the dueling ships as steam. They were covered. Aang watched, horrified, as a missile soared through the air, narrowly missing Toph’s feet. He made to leave but Sokka held him back. “You have to stay hidden,” he said. Aang hit himself on the head with his glider for even thinking to go out.</p><p>More and more missiles crashed into the ship as Sokka ran out himself, dodging and finding cover. There was some shouting, and then full-on rocking as something in the water shook the boat, even more violently than the bombs. Aang didn’t want to see what it was. He clutched his glider with white knuckles, eventually storming back into his room and curling up until the sounds stopped. He rubbed the blanket until the black spots returned.</p><p>“Aang.” A soft voice woke him up with a gentle shake. He rubbed his eye and smiled, “Hey, Katara.” When he opened his eyes, he saw that Sokka and Toph were in the room with them. </p><p>“We just pulled into the dock and were thinking of getting some food in town. How’re you holding up?” </p><p>Aang sat up shakily, feeling his stomach rumble under the wrappings. “I could go for some dumplings.”</p><p>Toph stepped forward with one of her beanies, a burnt orange one with a black patch on the front. “Here,” she tossed it into his hands, “for your arrow.”</p><p>Aang clutched the hat in a fist. “No,” he threw the hat back, where it hit an unsuspecting Toph in the shoulder. “I’m not going if I can’t wear my arrow proudly.”</p><p>“Suit yourself,” she responded, turning with Sokka out the door and off the ship. Katara lingered for a moment before joining them. Aang clutched the sheets and tucked himself back under the covers. His stomach rumbled again. It was going to be a rough night. </p><p>An hour into waiting for the group to return, Aang shot up, fed up with staying secret. He grabbed his glider and a map, sneaking out of the ship and onto the main deck. The sky was a beautiful midnight blue, dotted with stars as far as the eyes could see. Light pollution was much less common here than in Ba Sing Se. With a stomp of his glider, Aang took to the skies. </p><p>Cold wind whipped around his wound’s wrappings as he rushed over the Fire Nation countryside. The houses looked like pebbles, the people like dots. Airbending was not for the faint of heart. He forced himself to look forward, eyes trained on his goal: Roku’s Island.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Awakening Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rain thrummed on the fabric of the glider as Aang navigated the stormy currents. Clouds had been good to conceal him from any Fire Nation navy that might be out on the seas, but the thick fog was proving difficult to navigate. Aang ducked below the stormy mist.</p>
<p>He could make out a red light in the distance, then two, then three, then more. A whole blockade of Fire Nation ships blocked his way. It was time for some bending. </p>
<p>As he breathed in, gathering air for his dive, his back muscles expanded and stretched the skin across his scar. He flinched as he felt the scar tissue tear. In one swift motion, Aang pulled the wings of the glider in, pointed the nose downwards, and waterbent an opening in the sea that he dove into perfectly. The salt stung his wound, and he started to see spots at the edges of his vision… </p>
<p>He was pushing through the surface of the water, floating in the middle of a turbulent, gray ocean. Neither land or the blockade was anywhere to be found. Aang turned onto his stomach and stared into the icy depths of the water below him, thick and suffocating. Did he make the right choice?</p>
<p>Out of the corner of his eye floated a slab of wood, possibly a part of some barrel on a trading ship, or part of a ship itself. Aang clutched on for dear life. He pinched the tip of his arrow, trying to come back to reality. </p>
<p>
  <em>Aang.</em>
</p>
<p>He looked up. Before him stood a man with flowing white beard and hair tied up in a traditional Fire Nation topknot, with knee-length robes and gold embroidery. An old, wise, Fire Nation Avatar. </p>
<p>“Roku.”</p>
<p>
  <em>You did not fail, young Avatar.</em>
</p>
<p>“That’s what everyone keeps telling me!”</p>
<p>
  <em>Maybe they are telling you for a reason.</em>
</p>
<p>Aang felt a tongue of saltwater lick more pain into his wound. He winced.</p>
<p>
  <em>Turn back. </em>
</p>
<p>“Aren’t you the one always telling me to push forward? Wasn’t avoiding confrontation your whole thing?” Aang shouted, wind rushing past his head and whistling in his ears. He was so cold… </p>
<p>
  <em>I knew when I could not win a fight, and I know when you cannot win a fight.</em>
</p>
<p>“I have to do this! I have to- to show people that there’s hope! I AM HOPE!”</p>
<p>
    <em>What you are right now is foolish. </em>
</p>
<p>Tears as salty as the ocean he was floating in burned in Aang’s eyes. They stung his nose and came dripping out his nostrils. His hearing dimmed.</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <em>Please, not now, he thought.</em>
  </em>
</p>
<p>The spots returned to his eyes.</p>
<p>Everything turned as black as the sea.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p>His toes touched rock.</p>
<p>His toes touched rock and his hands touched wood and then his hands were touching rock too. In one hand, he held his glider, and in the other he was climbing up onto the rocky shores of Roku’s Island. His feet touched land and his body touched the air, sweet air, warm air emanating from the inside of the volcano and off the lava pours that riddled the mountain. He sat, then lay down, too tired to stand or do anything besides feel the heat coming off the rock. He watched as the ocean spray was vaporized by the fire of the mountain.</p>
<p>He made out a red light in the distance. Then two, then three, then more. They had found him. Aang sprung to his feet, his heels digging into pointy rock, and he slammed his glider on the ground. The wings opened sadly, drooping and tattered. The waves and wind must have torn it all away. Aang pored his fingers over the fabric, feeling the dirty canvas crumble beneath his fingers. “No, no, not now, not this-” The light from the volcano shone through the fabric, illuminating the shadow of his fingers…</p>
<p>The boat drew closer.</p>
<p>Aang ran, somewhere, anywhere he could to get out of sight of the boat. With every step, there was a jolt in his stomach, and the rocks dug into his toes, and he was bleeding and crying and he grabbed his head and he threw up and he dropped the glider and he picked it up and he fell down and he got back up and the lights were here <em>the lights were here THE LIGHTS WERE HERE.</em></p>
<p>“Aang!”</p>
<p>The sweet voice.</p>
<p>“Thank you universe!”</p>
<p>The good voice.</p>
<p>“Are you sure that’s him?"</p>
<p>The good people.</p>
<p>Aang felt cold as the weight slid off of his shoulders like a warm shower falling off his tired body. There was a girl bending the waves into a bridge, running across the ice and onto him, pulling him in closer. He felt the beating of her heart against his, rapid and panicked against lethargic and exhausted. She unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and pulled the water onto his back and feet. He shivered and sank back onto the rocks.</p>
<p>Two more voices ran up to him, full of anxiety and immense relief.</p>
<p>“Holy shit!”</p>
<p>“Sokka.” Katara looked back.</p>
<p>“Sorry.” Sokka and Toph huddled around Aang. Toph bent the rocks to give him a smoother place to rest, and Sokka propped his head up on his chest. Aang closed his eyes, full of smoke and tears.</p>
<p>“Aang, how’d you let your feet get like that? You’ve still got training to do!” Toph joked, tense.</p>
<p>“The invasion.” His voice was full of smoke and ash, a croak above the roar of the sea.</p>
<p>“We’re going to meet up with my dad on the day of the eclipse. In the meantime, we can get to a safe place to continue your training,” Sokka said.</p>
<p>Aang nodded, careful not to move too much and disturb Katara. Toph grabbed his hand. He felt the calluses on hers, years of working with stone.</p>
<p>“We’ll ride Appa.” he smiled. “Like before.”</p>
<p>“Like before,” Sokka chuckled. </p>
<p>Aang sat up when Katara had finished. He reached over to the torn glider laying disgraced on the rocks. The wood felt rough in his hands. “If people see this, they know I’m alive.”</p>
<p>There was a silent nod passed around the group.</p>
<p>Aang leapt up to the top of one of the pyroclastic flows. He could see the heat distorting the air around it. With a spin of his wrist, he firmly stuck the glider into the magma, where it caught flame. He returned to the side of his friends, where they watched it all burn.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Woooooo. That was more writing than I expected to come out of me today. I also updated my other fic, <em>Silver and Gold,</em> which is a continuation of this story I guess? It's also Modern AU and takes place after the events of ATLA. It would mean a lot if you went and checked it out! :)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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